Silver still hanging around $17 price

While gold has slipped definitely below $1,300, silver continues to pop back and forth across the $17 mark. Remember, prices provided in Coin Market are just a snapshot of one moment as this information was compiled. By the time you read this, prices could be back up, or down even further.

One of the more disturbing trends I have been noticing while calculating coin values is what in recent months has been a steady decline in the prices of many coins. It has, however, also occurred to me that this shouldn’t be a disturbing trend – it is actually good news for collectors, but not good news for the investor or dealer who has been sitting on significant inventory.

I’ve spoken to dealers who admit there are certain coins they won’t sell right now because the values have declined too much. It is, however, great news for the dyed-in-the-wool collector. Recent correspondence with one serious collector revealed he now has multiple examples of some desirable date Lincoln cents, coins which he acknowledged he would not have considered purchasing before the recent downturn in the coin market.

Another collector is taking a serious interest in common-date proof Silver American Eagles due to current price levels. There is no question it is more challenging for dealers to restock in this environment, but there are plenty of seasoned collectors who will quickly purchase anything of significance a dealer can obtain.

The generic collectible coin market continues to slump along with precious metals prices, but this isn’t necessarily a calamity.

Buyers of bullion silver Eagles have taken 925,000 of the coins from the Mint so far in October. This is triple the number from September.

More Collecting Resources

• More than 600 issuing locations are represented in the Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800 .

• When it comes to specialized world paper money issues, nothing can top the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Specialized Issues .